Generali Endowed Chair in European Policies - Shaping Leadership in Europe

Catherine De Vries is Dean for International Affairs and Full Professor of Political Science at Bocconi University where, from 2020 to 2022, she also served as the first Dean for Diversity and Inclusion.
Her research background covers the field of Political Science, with a particular focus on key challenges affecting the European continent today, including Euroscepticism, political fragmentation, migration and corruption. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, with coursework at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA degree in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam with coursework at the Free University Berlin.

Her academic career includes prestigious awards and positions. She received the Emerging Scholar Award of the American Political Science Association and a prestigious European Research Council grant. Her book on Eurosceptism received the Best Book award in EU Studies Award and was listed in the top-5 books on Europe’s future by the Financial Times. Before joining Bocconi, she has held senior positions at other distinguished academic institutions: she was Westerdijk Chair & Professor Political Behaviour in Europe at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford.

Her academic experience was enriched by additional positions, such as the Visiting Fellowship at the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies. She has served in advisory roles and participated in research projects internationally, working with institutions and organizations such as the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany, the Council of Foreign Affairs of the Dutch Government, and the Cross-Whitehall Advisory Panel for the What Works Unit in the British Cabinet Office.

Her involvement in policy issues demonstrate an unwavering commitment to addressing contemporary political and social challenges and contributing to research and governance at the international level. For her social engagement, she was selected a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum in 2013.

Joint Purpose

The collaboration between Generali and Bocconi began in 1996 and was further consolidated over the years by sharing values and goals cherished by both parties. In 2017, Generali established a term academic position, the "Generali Group Chair in Insurance and Risk Management" which was assigned to Professor Stefano Rossi, and was addressed to research and teaching activities in the insurance-financial sector.

In 2023, Generali chose to further strengthen this partnership by establishing a new academic position, the Generali Endowed Chair in European Policies – Shaping Leadership in Europe, assigned to Professor Catherine De Vries. This position will have a focus on scientific research in European Policies, an area of great relevance for both Italy and Europe and of common interest for Bocconi and Generali.

This new position shows the commitment of Generali and Bocconi University to actively contribute to improving Europe's political and institutional landscape through high-quality academic research.

Core activities

Research

The Chair's research activities aim to improve EU effectiveness and accountability by examining potential reforms, leadership models, and political dynamics involving the European Union.
Specifically, the Chair's research will focus on three specific areas:

Reform of the European Union: the goal is to examine possible scenarios for EU reform in response to recent challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. The idea is to analyze possible scenarios for improving EU effectiveness in policy implementation and leadership, with a focus on assessing public support for such reforms.
Leadership in the European Union: given the challenges related to the executive structure of the EU, the aim is to explore the concept of leadership in the broader global context, considering aspects of accountability and democracy. Therefore, this research focuses on the development of executive leadership models by analyzing public support for such models through experiments and surveys.
The EU as Scapegoat: Blame Avoidance Strategies of Politicians: to uncover the politicization of European issues in national arenas, this research area will use machine-learning approaches to analyze the speeches, manifestos and presence on social media of domestic politicians in order to discover how the EU context is used strategically to avoid blame for unpopular outcomes.

Students

Professor De Vries' rigorous research activities will also be complemented by significant teaching activities as part of the courses taught by the professor. Students will thus have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and develop new skills in the field of European Policies.

Dissemination

In the coming years, the activity of the Chair will be enriched with the dissemination of the results of Professor De Vries' research through participation in seminars and conferences organized by the most prestigious academic and institutional entities.